GAO slams Army for shoddy repair shipment controls

GAO slams Army for shoddy repair shipment controls    A congressional watchdog agency found that the U.S. Army fails to maintain efficient oversight of inventory shipped to repair contactors, placing these items at risk of loss or theft.
   “Although the DOD (Department of Defense) policy requires the military services to confirm receipt of all assets shipped to contractors, the Army is not consistently recording shipment receipts in its inventory management system,” said the Government Accountability Office (GAO) in a report released this week.
   The GAO based its findings on an analysis of the Army’s fiscal 2004 shipment data. The agency said the Army could not reconcile shipment records with receipt records for 42 percent of the unclassified secondary repair item shipments, valued at $481.7 million, or for 37 percent of the classified secondary repair item shipments, valued at $8.1 million.
   The GAO report cited the Army’s lack of document controls and failure to follow up on confirmations of receipt. The agency also said the Army’s inventory control points do not provide the Defense Contract Management Agency with required quarterly reports that show the status of government-furnished material shipments.
   The GAO found similar breakdowns in repair inventory management with the Navy and Air Force.